


another fancy word for dna.

by katarama



Series: Tumblr Ficlets [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, FSA Week, Fluff, M/M, Nerd Scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 06:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4950463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarama/pseuds/katarama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek's a history major who is accidentally registered for Scott's accelerated bio for majors class.</p><p>He's in way over his head, he needs a little help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	another fancy word for dna.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rjosettes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rjosettes/gifts).



> Happy [Fuck Scerek Anon Week](fuckscerekanon.tumblr.com)!

There’s a boy that sits in the seat in the dead center of Scott’s classroom for Intro to Cellular and Molecular Biology for majors.  The boy has rumpled, dark brown hair and bushy eyebrows and soft green eyes, and he’s freshly shaven - Scott knows because he can smell his aftershave when he sits down in the seat next to him.  The guy doesn’t say much, though he keeps staring at the thick biology textbook on his desk like it’s going to jump up and eat him.  Scott wants to say something to him, because making friends is never a bad thing, and the guy seems like he could use a smile, but class starts up before Scott can.

The professor passes around the syllabus and has everyone go around the room and do the usual introductory stuff,  _say your name and why you decided to take this course_.

“Derek Hale,” the guy next to him says, “and, uh.  Making of the Modern World was full?”

* * *

 

The whole class laughs, and then Scott realizes it’s his turn.  The professor smiles when he says that he wants to be a vet and moves along to the next student.  When the attention’s off him, Scott finally glances back at Derek.

Derek looks mildly constipated, picking at the edge of his textbook with his fingernail while he grimaces at his copy of the syllabus, fear evident in his eyes.

“You’ll be fine :) ,” Scott scrawls on the corner of his notebook paper, tearing it off and sliding it over to Derek's desk, years of passing notes with Stiles helping him dodge the gaze of the professor.  Derek glances at the note and looks up at Scott, his eyebrows turned up at the ends in confusion and distress.

He doesn’t say anything back to Scott, and at the end of the class, Derek bolts.

* * *

 

Scott expects to come to the next class and find Derek’s seat empty, but he’s surprised to see him sitting in the same spot as before, leather jacket draped around the back of his chair and worn blue backpack stuffed full of paperbacks.  Scott smiles at him when he takes his seat, excited for another chance to talk to him.  He still doesn’t really have any friends in that class yet; Lydia is focusing in on chemistry, and Stiles wants nothing to do with hard sciences, using chemistry of drugs to fulfill his gen ed science requirement.  

Derek is probably not who Stiles or Lydia would pick out for friendship material upon entering the room; he’s not exactly the most welcoming person.  But when Scott asks Derek if the seat next to him is empty, Derek doesn’t say no, and he considers that a victory.  Derek talks to Scott, even, when Scott goes to introduce himself.

“I know you’re Scott,” Derek says, not unkindly.  “The one who wants to be a vet.”

Scott grins big and wide, his entire face lighting up, because Derek remembers.  “Yeah, that’s me.”

“My mom works with wolves on the nature preserve,” Derek says, haltingly.  “I mean, like, a lot of vets are in an office and not taking care of wolves, but-”

“Dude, that’s  _so cool_ ,” Scott interrupts.  He has about a billion questions, but the professor is fiddling with her box of colored chalk, so he doesn’t get to ask any of them until later.

He notices, though, that Derek’s shoulders are more relaxed and his eyebrows are less furrowed, and it makes Scott feel warm inside.

* * *

 

Derek doesn’t say a word in class.

The class meets three times per week, and Derek only talks before and after class.  Derek starts warming up to Scott, and by the second week they’re starting to form a routine, walking out of class together and splitting up at the walkway outside the science center.

“We have lab Monday,” Scott reminds him as they walk out for the afternoon on Friday.  They’d had a grace period the first week, and the lab professor had to cancel the second week.  “You excited?”

“I guess,” Derek says, and the tension that had slipped from his body language when they left the building is back again in full force.  

“It’ll be fine, it’s just gonna be an intro lab,” Scott says reassuringly.  “Not back to reading the syllabus and going over lab safety, but it shouldn’t be that bad.”

“I know,” Derek says, but it doesn’t seem to actually be reassuring to him at all.  “I’ll see you Monday, okay?  Save a seat for me.”

“You always get there before me anyway,” Scott points out to him, but Derek doesn’t dignify it with an answer, waving and walking away.

Scott heads off in the other direction, thinking about Derek’s weird reaction the entire way home.

* * *

 

Scott realizes quickly why Derek was so nervous.

Lab with Derek as a partner is nothing short of a disaster.

Derek has his lab packet printed out and scribbled on, filled out more thoroughly than anyone else in the lab section, but when it comes time to actually do the lab, Derek is hopeless.  The entire three hours, he glances back and forth between his lab sheet, which is crumpled from the death grip he has on it, and Scott, his eyes wide.  He looks trapped, his hands shaky and uncertain, and Scott takes over doing most of the procedural part of the lab himself, giving Derek the task of filling out the form their professor handed out at the beginning of class.

They barely finish in time, because Derek is staring right at the results and has no idea what they mean, so Scott patiently talks him through that, too.

“I’m sorry,” Derek says, for probably the fifth time.  “I did the reading, I promise, I just...”

“It’s fine,” Scott says, his hand on Derek’s shoulder.  “Let’s just get this finished up so we can leave.”

* * *

 

After lab, it’s already late, and Derek buys him coffee at the little kiosk in the lobby of the science center.  They sit at one of the rickety tables nearby, sipping slowly and ignoring their other work.  

Scott is baffled, because he knows Derek is trying; he can’t imagine Derek slacking off, he’s seen Derek’s notes.  Derek fills up whole pages before all of his classes, his neat, loopy writing filling up the pages and, occasionally, even the margins of his textbook.

“I’m sorry,” Derek says yet again, “I... I made a big mistake.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Scott disagrees.  “I mean, you were a little clumsy, sure, but nothing you won’t get better at with practice.”

“ _No_ ,” Derek says, running his finger along the plastic ledge of his coffee cup’s lid.  “I made a mistake taking this course.  Or.  Well.  They made a mistake processing registration.  There was a glitch, or something, and I was signed up for this class.  They said the course I wanted was full when I finally realized, and there weren’t any other intro level history courses they could put me in.  My advisor told me to stay in the course, because I missed the period to switch.  They told me when I first emailed them that they would do what they could, but it took them a long time to tell me I couldn’t switch, and the add/drop period was already over.”

Scott looks at him, eyes wide.  “So on the first day...”

“Yeah,” Derek says.  He can’t look Scott in the eyes, embarrassed.  “I’m terrible at science?  I’m a history major.  I’m  _good_  at history, but I’m  _terrible_  at biology, and this is fast-moving biology.  I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m gonna flunk.”

“Then study with me,” Scott says simply.  “We’ll work on it together.  I’m used to being creative thinking up ways to learn science stuff, my best friend has bad ADHD and  _hates_ science.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Derek insists.  “It’s not going to do any good, anyway, and that’s too much.”

“It helps me learn it if I go over it twice, once with someone else,” Scott says.  Derek seems uncertain, but Scott is dead set on taking Derek under his wing.  He knows that he could probably funnel Derek to the TA, or he could get Derek to pay him for essentially tutoring him.  But Scott doesn’t want to - he has just a little bit of free time to  dedicate to it, it  _will_  help him learn the material better, and (most importantly), it would mean spending lots and lots of time outside of class with Derek.

Terrible at biology or not, Derek is cute and he’s sweet and he gets excited talking about his mom and sisters, and Scott knows that he’s already got a full-blown crush developing.

“Fine,” Derek finally says, deferring under Scott’s unwavering expression.  “But I’m getting you dinner, first, and I’m paying.”

Scott smiles.  “Okay.  It’s a date.”

Derek looks bewildered, but agreement from him comes way more easily than Scott ever would’ve expected.  “Yeah,” he confirms.  “It’s a date.”

* * *

 

(”He meant a study date,” Stiles insists from his seat on the couch.  “You’re mostly going to be studying.”

Scott decides to wear his favorite henley and his pair of jeans that fit just a bit too tightly for sitting in class all day, anyway, and he doesn’t regret it.  Derek is all nerves, at first, until he blurts out that he maybe sort of likes Scott.  They hold hands under the table and split a dessert.

They doze off on Derek’s couch, Derek’s head on Scott’s shoulder and their unopened bio textbooks on the table.  They don’t get any studying done, but neither of them minds.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](sleepy-skittles.tumblr.com).


End file.
